Five Notable Developments in Nuclear This Week

1. The Government published guidance on nuclear research after Brexit if there is no deal

The Department for Exiting the European Union published a planning paper on nuclear research.

The document made clear that in a no deal scenario the UK will no longer be a member of the Euratom Research and Training programme and no longer be a member of Fusion for Energy.

(Department for Exiting the European Union, Nuclear research if there’s no Brexit deal, 23 August 2018, link)

2. THE GOVERNMENT PUBLISHED GUIDANCE ON CIVIL NUCLEAR REGULATION AFTER BREXIT IF THERE IS NO DEAL

The Department for Exiting the European Union published a planning paper on civil nuclear regulation.

If there is no deal after 29 March 2018 a new domestic nuclear safeguards regime will come into force. The document outlines how this would affect:

nuclear safeguards;

the ownership and movement of nuclear material, equipment and technology;

management of spent fuel and radioactive waste;

reporting and notifications to the European Commission.

(Department for Exiting the European Union, Civil nuclear regulation if there’s no Brexit deal, 23 August 2018, link)

3. THE NIA RESPONDED TO THE NO DEAL TECHNICAL NOTICES

Commenting on the government’s publication of its first series of no deal technical notices, Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the UK Nuclear Industry Association said:

‘The publication of the first of the no deal technical notices today underlines the scale of the work still required to put contingency plans in place before March 2019, and why a sensible, rational and logical future relationship between the EU and UK is the most desirable outcome.

‘While the government and UK nuclear power sector has made good progress in replicating Euratom arrangements in recent months, there’s no room for complacency and much remains in the control of the UK government to deliver. A March 2019 deadline continues to be challenging.

‘It is clear the most desirable and least disruptive course of action for both the UK and the EU is to conclude a sensible, rational and logical long-term association between the UK and Euratom, with a transition period to enable new arrangements to successfully bed in. We will continue to work closely with both the UK government and the European Commission to encourage the smoothest possible transition out of Euratom.’

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